Method and system of remote monitoring and support of devices, including handling email messages having message types specified within the e-mail message

ABSTRACT

In a system for remotely monitoring networked devices and appliances, email messages are sent across networks, the email messages containing configuration, status or other information. For flexibility, it is desirable to quickly and easily change the message type designation, and to easily determine a data structure definition based on the received message type. To achieve this goal, the message type designation of a given message&#39;s information may be defined within the message itself, and extracted at the receiving end before the information is analyzed or stored according to the data structure definition. Thus, a large number of devices is allowed to communicate configuration, status and/or other types of information in a variety of message types. A method is provided for receiving information concerning a remotely monitored device, the information being contained in a message that also includes a message type designation. The method involves parsing a line from the message to extract the message type designation, determining a data structure definition based on the message type designation, reading data elements from the other lines, and inserting the data elements according to the data structure definition. The method may be implemented in object-oriented programming, in a software module including a data retriever class, an email processor class, and a parser class.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This continuation application is based upon, and claims the benefit ofpriority from prior U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/975,938, filedon Oct. 15, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,407. The entire contents of theabove-identified applications are incorporated herein by reference.

The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/190,460, filed Nov. 13, 1998, entitled “Method and System forTranslating Documents Using Different Translation Resources forDifferent Portions of the Documents,” which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 08/654,207, filed May 28, 1996, entitled“Method and System for Translating Documents Using Different TranslationResources for Different Portions of the Documents,” now U.S. Pat. No.5,848,386; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/997,705, filed Dec. 23,1997, entitled “Object-oriented System and Computer Program Product forMapping Structured Information to Different Structured Information,” nowU.S. Pat. No. 6,085,196; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/997,705,filed Dec. 23, 1997, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Providing aGraphical User Interface for Creating and Editing a Mapping of a FirstStructural Description to a Second Structural Description”; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/756,120, filed Jan. 9, 2001, entitled “Methodand System of Remote Support Of Device Using Email”; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/668,162, filed Sep. 25, 2000, entitled “Methodand System of Data collection and Mapping From a Remote PositionReporting Device”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/575,710, filedJul. 25, 2000, entitled “Method and System of Remote Diagnostic andInformation Collection and Service System”; U.S. patent application Ser.No. 09/575,702, filed Jul. 12, 2000, entitled “Method and System ofRemote Position Report Device”; U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/453,934, filed May 17, 2000, entitled “Method and System of RemoteDiagnostic, Control and Information Collection Using a Dynamic LinkedLibrary for Multiple Formats and Multiple Protocols”; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/453,935, filed May 17, 2000, entitled “Methodand System of Remote Diagnostic, Control and Information CollectionUsing a Dynamic Linked Library of Multiple Formats and MultipleProtocols With Intelligent Protocol Processor”; U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/453,937, filed May 17, 2000, entitled “Method and System ofRemote Diagnostic, Control and Information Collection Using a DynamicLinked Library of Multiple Formats and Multiple Protocols WithRestriction on Protocol”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/453,936,filed May 17, 2000, entitled “Method and System of Remote Diagnostic,Control and Information Collection Using a Dynamic Linked Library ofMultiple Formats and Multiple Protocols with Intelligent Formatter”;U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/542,284, filed Apr. 4, 2000,entitled “System and Method to Display Various Messages While Performingthe Tasks or While Idling”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/520,368,filed on Mar. 7, 2000, entitled “Method and System for Updating theDevice Driver of a Business Office Appliance”; U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/453,877, filed Feb. 4, 2000, entitled “Method and System forMaintaining a Business Office Appliance through Log Files”; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/440,692, filed Nov. 16, 1999, entitled “Methodand System to Monitor the Application Usage and Send Back theInformation Using Connection and Connectionless Mode”; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/440,693, filed Nov. 16, 1999, entitled “Methodand System of Remote Diagnostic, Control and Information CollectionUsing a Dynamic Linked Library”; U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/440,647, filed Nov. 16, 1999, entitled “Method and System to Monitorthe Application Usage and Send Back the Information Using Connection andConnectionless Mode”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/440,646, filedNov. 16, 1999, entitled “Method and System to Monitor the ApplicationUsage and Send Back the Information Using Connection and ConnectionlessMode”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/440,645, filed Nov. 16, 1999,entitled “Application Unit Monitoring and Reporting System and MethodWith Usage Data Logged Into a Map Structure”; U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/408,443, filed Sep. 29, 1999, entitled “Method and Systemfor Remote Diagnostic, Control, and Information Collection Based onvarious Communication Modes for Sending Messages to a Resource Manager”;U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/407,769, filed Sep. 29, 1999,entitled “Method and System for Remote Diagnostic, Control andInformation Collection Based on various Communication Modes for SendingMessages to Users”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/393,677, filedSep. 10, 1999, entitled “Application Unit Monitoring and ReportingSystem and Method”; U.S. patent application Ser. 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No. 08/880,683, filed Jun. 23, 1997, U.S.patent application Ser. Nos. 09/107,989 and 09/108,705, both of whichwere filed Jul. 1, 1998, all three of which are entitled “Method andSystem for Controlling and Communicating with Machines Using MultipleCommunication Formats,” and all three of which are divisions of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 08/624,228, filed Mar. 29, 1996, entitled“Method and System for Controlling and Communicating with Machines UsingMultiple Communication Formats,” now U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,603; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/457,669, entitled “Method and System forDiagnosis and Control of Machines Using Connection and ConnectionlessModes of Communication,” filed Dec. 9, 1999, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/916,009, entitled “Method and Systemfor Diagnosis and Control of Machines Using Connection andConnectionless Modes of Communication,” filed Aug. 21, 1997, which is acontinuation of, and U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 08/738,659 and08/738,461, filed Oct. 30, 1996, both of which are entitled “Method andSystem for Diagnosis and Control of Machines Using Connection andConnectionless Modes of Communication,” which are divisions of, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 08/463,002, filed Jun. 5, 1995, entitled“Method and System for Diagnosis and Control of Machines UsingConnection and Connectionless Modes of Communication”, now U.S. Pat. No.5,819,110; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/852,413, filed May 7,1987, entitled “Method and System for Controlling and Communicating withBusiness Office Devices,” now U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,678, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/698,068, filed Aug.15, 1996, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Controlling andCommunicating With Business Office Devices”, now U.S. Pat. No.5,649,120, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.08/562,192, filed Nov. 22, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,618, entitled“Method and Apparatus for Controlling and Communicating With BusinessOffice Devices”, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 08/473,780, filed Jun. 6, 1995, entitled “Method and Apparatus forControlling and Communicating With Business Office Devices”, now U.S.Pat. No. 5,544,289, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 08/426,679, filed Apr. 24, 1995, entitled “Method and Apparatusfor Controlling and Communicating With Business Office Devices,” nowU.S. Pat. No. 5,537,554, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 08/282,168, filed Jul. 28, 1994, entitled “Methodand Apparatus for Controlling and Communicating With Business OfficeDevices”, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,779, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 07/902,462, filed Jun. 19, 1992, nowabandoned, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.07/549,278, filed Jul. 6, 1990, now abandoned; U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/953,357, filed Sep. 17, 2001, entitled “System, Method, andComputer Program Product for Collecting and Sending Various Types ofInformation to a Monitor Using E-Mail”; U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/953,358, filed Sep. 17, 2001, entitled “System, Method, and ComputerProgram Product for Transferring Remote Device Support Data to a MonitorUsing E-Mail”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/953,359, filed Sep.17, 2001, entitled “System, Method, and Computer Program Product forSending Remote Device Configuration Information to a Monitor UsingE-Mail”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/975,939, filed concurrentlyherewith on Oct. 15, 2001, entitled “Method And System of RemoteMonitoring and Support of Devices, Extracting Data From Different Typesof Email Messages, and Storing Data According to Data StructuresDetermined by the Message Types”; U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/975,935, filed concurrently herewith on Oct. 15, 2001, entitled“Method and System of Remote Monitoring and Support of Devices, UsingPOP3 and Decryption Using Virtual Function”; the disclosure of each isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to various methods, systems, computer programproducts, and other arrangements for remotely monitoring any of avariety of appliances or devices, for sending monitoring informationacross any of various networks, for receiving the monitoringinformation, and for storing and analyzing the monitored information.

2. Discussion of the Background

With the advent of microprocessors, microprocessor-based appliances anddevices have become more intelligent. In addition, the increase ofnetworking through wireline and wireless technology makes communicationamong those intelligent appliances and devices possible. The nextextension to this development is to create systems in which theconfiguration and status of these appliances and devices are monitoredand sent by a monitoring system to a receiving system.

Co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/756,120, filed on Jan. 9, 2001,describes a system for remotely monitoring networked devices usingemail. Email messages are sent across networks, the email messagescontaining configuration, status or other information.

Because of the wide variety of types of devices that may be monitored(printers, refrigerators, and so forth), a large number of types ofmessages must be communicated. Also, a wide variety of informationspecific to each type of device, such as that relating to make andmodel, device serial numbers, device locations, malfunction indications,service requests, and so forth, has to be transmitted.

In conventional arrangements, it may be necessary to design andimplement a different scheme for each message type (configuration,status, and so forth) and for each data structure. Moreover, when theinformation to be communicated changes, such as when a new type ofdevice, a new message type or different message content arises, thescheme for defining the message type and/or data structure must bemodified. This repeated design, implementation and revision, are costlyand time-consuming. Accordingly, communication techniques that arefrozen to specific message types and data structures are not well suitedto communicating information relating to monitoring or supportingdevices of many different types.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventors have recognized that, for the sake of flexibility, it isdesirable to quickly and easily change the message type designation ofinformation concerning remotely monitored devices and appliances, and toeasily determine an appropriate data structure by which the receivedinformation may be stored. To achieve this goal, the message typedesignation of a given message's information may be defined within themessage itself and extracted at the receiving end before the informationis analyzed or stored according to a data structure determined by themessage type. The present invention achieves the goal of allowing alarge number of devices to communicate configuration, status and/orother types of information in a variety of message types.

The invention provides methods, systems, and software modules forreceiving information concerning a remotely monitored device, theinformation being contained in a message that also includes a messagetype designation. The methods, systems, and software modules involveparsing a line from the message to extract the message type designation,determining a data structure definition based on the message typedesignation, reading data elements from the other lines, and insertingthe data elements according to the data structure definition.

The inventive method may be implemented, for example, in object-orientedprogramming, in a software module including, for example, a receivermanager class, and a data retriever, the data retriever including a dataretriever class, an email processor, and a parser.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will beapparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of thisspecification including the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendantadvantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which likereference numerals refer to like elements throughout, and in which: FIG.1 illustrates three networked business office machines connected to anetwork of computers and databases through the Internet;

FIG. 2 illustrates the components of a digital image forming apparatus;

FIG. 3 illustrates the electronic components of the digital imageforming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 illustrates details of a multi-port communication interfaceillustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative system configuration in which businessoffice devices are either connected directly to the network or connectedto a computer that is connected to the network;

FIG. 6A is a block diagram illustrating a flow of information to andfrom an application unit using electronic mail;

FIG. 6B illustrates an alternative way of communicating using electronicmail in which a computer that is connected to the application unit alsoserves as a message transfer agent;

FIG. 6C illustrates an alternative way of communicating using electronicmail in which an application unit includes a message transfer agent forexchanging electronic mail;

FIG. 6D illustrates an alternative way of communicating using electronicmail in which a mail server acts as a POP 3 server to receive mail foran appliance/device and as an SMTP server to send mail for theappliance/device;

FIG. 7 illustrates an alternative manner of sending messages across theInternet;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary computer that may be connected to anappliance/device and used to communicate electronic mail messages;

FIG. 9 is an overall system configuration related to the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 illustrates a general software architecture of sending andreceiving modules, FIGS. 11 and 12 respectively illustrate generalarchitectures of the Monitor_Send DLL module 1003 and Receive_Store DLLmodule 1013 (both of FIG. 10);

FIG. 13 illustrates a collaboration diagram within the Receiver Managermodule 1203 (FIG. 12);

FIG. 14 illustrates a class structure of the Data Retriever module 1205(FIG. 12), FIG. 15A is a flowchart showing a method within the DataRetriever module 1205 for extracting message-type-dependent data andinsertion of the data into a data structure, and FIGS. 15B, 15C, and 15Dillustrate collaboration diagrams within the Data Retriever module 1205;

FIG. 16 illustrates a class structure of the POP3 Processor module 1207(FIG. 12), FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate collaboration diagrams within thePOP3 Processor module 1207, FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating a methodthat may be performed within the POP3 Processor module 1207, and FIGS.20A, 20B, 21, and 22 illustrate additional collaboration diagrams withinthe POP3 Processor module 1207; and

FIG. 23 illustrates a class diagram of the ODBC (Open DataBaseConnectivity) Interface module 1209 (FIG. 12), and FIGS. 24 and 25illustrate collaboration diagrams within the ODBC Interface module.

FIGS. 26A and 26B are flowcharts illustrating processes of gettingstatus and configuration information, respectively, from the emailmessage and storing the information in the database.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In describing preferred embodiments of the present invention illustratedin the drawings, specific terminology is employed for the sake ofclarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to thespecific terminology so selected, and it is to be understood that eachspecific element includes all technical equivalents that operate in asimilar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designateidentical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and moreparticularly to FIG. 1 thereof, there are illustrated various machines,along with computers for monitoring, diagnosing and controlling theoperation of the machines. In FIG. 1, there is a first network 16, suchas a Local Area Network (LAN), connected to computer workstations 17,18, 20 and 22. The workstations can be any type of computers including,e.g., IBM Personal Computer compatible devices, Unix-based computers,Linux-based computers or Apple Macintoshes. Also connected to thenetwork 16 are a digital image forming apparatus 24, a facsimile machine28, and a printer 32.

As appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, two or more of thecomponents of the digital image forming apparatus 24 and the facsimilemachine 28 can be combined into a unified “image forming apparatus.” Thedevices 24, 28 and 32 and the workstations 17, 18, and 22 are referredto herein as machines or monitored devices, and other types of devicesmay be used as the machines or monitored devices, including any of thedevices discussed below.

In some configurations, one or more workstations may be converted tobusiness office appliances. One example of such a business officeappliance is eCabinet from Ricoh that was demonstrated at Fall Comdex in1999 at Las Vegas.

Also, a facsimile server (not illustrated) may be connected to thenetwork 16 and have a telephone, ISDN (Integrated Services DigitalNetwork), cable or wireless connection. In addition to the digital imageforming apparatus 24, facsimile machine 28, and printer 32 beingconnected to the network 16, these devices may also include conventionaltelephone and/or ISDN and/or cable and/or wireless connections 26, 30and 34, respectively. As explained below, the business office machines,business devices or business office appliances to 24, 28 and 32communicate with a remote monitoring, diagnosis and control station,also referred to as a monitoring device, through the Internet via thenetwork 16 or by a direct telephone, ISDN, wireless, or cableconnection.

In FIG. 1, a wide area network (WAN) (e.g., the Internet or itssuccessor) is generally designated by 10. The WAN 10 can either be aprivate WAN, a public WAN or a hybrid. The WAN 10 includes a pluralityof interconnected computers and routers designated by 12A-12I. Themanner of communicating over a WAN is known through a series of RFCdocuments obtained by HTTP//:www.ietf.org/rfc.html, including RFC 821entitled “Simple Mail Transfer Protocol” from Internet Engineering TaskForce (IETF); RFC 822 entitled “Standard for the Format of ARPA InternetText Message” from IETF; RFC 959 entitled “File Transfer Protocol (FTP)”from IETF; RFC 2045 entitled “Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions(MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies” from IETF; RFC 1894entitled “An Extensible Message Format for Delivery StatusNotifications”; RFC 1939 entitled “Post Office protocol—Version 3”; andRFC 2298 entitled “An Extensible Message Format for Message DispositionNotifications.” The contents of each of these references areincorporated herein by reference.

TCP/IP related communication is described, for example, in the book“TCP/IP Illustrated,” Vol. 1, The Protocols, by W. R. Stevens, fromAddison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1994, which is incorporated herein byreference. Volumes 1-3 of “Internetworking with TCP/IP” by Corner andStevens are also incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

In FIG. 1, a firewall 50A is connected between the WAN 10 and thenetwork 16. A firewall allows only authorized computers on one side ofthe firewall to access a network, to computers or individual parts onthe other side of the firewall. Firewalls are known and commerciallyavailable devices and/or software (e.g., SunScreen from Sun MicrosystemsInc.). Similarly, firewalls 50B and 50C separate the WAN 10 from anetwork 52 and a workstation 42, respectively. Additional details onfirewalls can be found in “Firewalls and Internet Security” by W. R.Cheswick, and S. M. Bellovin, 1994, Addison-Wesley Publishing, and“Building Internet Firewalls” by D. B. Chapman and E. D. Zwicky, 1995,O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. The contents of those references areincorporated herein by reference.

The network 52 is a conventional network and includes a plurality ofworkstations 56, 62, 68 and 74. These workstations may be in differentdepartments (e.g., marketing, manufacturing, design engineering andcustomer service departments) within a single company.

In addition to the workstations connected via the network 52, there is aworkstation 42, which is not directly connected to the network 52.Information in a database stored in a disk 46 may be shared using properencryption and protocols over the WAN 10 to the workstations connecteddirectly to the network 52. Also, the workstation 42 includes a directconnection to a telephone line and/or ISDN and/or cable and/or wirelessnetwork 44 and the database in disk 46 may be accessed through thetelephone line, ISDN, cable or wirelessly. The cable used by thisinvention may be implemented using a cable that typically is used tocarry television programming, a cable that provides high speedcommunication of digital data typically used with computers or the like,or any other desired type of cable.

Information of the business office machines, business devices orbusiness office appliances 24, 28 and 32 may be stored in one or more ofthe databases stored in the disks 46, 54, 58, 64, 70 and 76. Exemplarydatabases include SQL databases by Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and Sybase, aswell as other relational databases, and non-relational databases(including object oriented databases from Computer Associates, JYDSoftware Engineering, and Orient Technologies).

Each of the customer service, marketing, manufacturing, and engineeringdepartments may have their own database or may share one or moredatabases. Each of the disks used to store databases is a non-volatilememory such as a hard disk or optical disk. Alternatively, the databasesmay be stored in any storage device including solid state and/orsemiconductor memory devices. As an example, disk 64 contains themarketing database, disk 58 contains the manufacturing database, disk 70contains the engineering database and disk 76 contains the customerservice database. Alternatively, the disks 54 and 46 may store one ormore of the databases.

Workstations 56, 62, 68, 74 and 42 may be connected not only to the WAN,but also to a telephone line, ISDN, cable, and/or wireless network thatprovides a secure connection to the machine being monitored, diagnosedand/or controlled and is used during communication. Additionally, if onecommunication medium is not operating properly, one of the others can beautomatically used for communication.

A feature of the present invention is the use of a “store-and-forward”mode of communication (e.g., Internet electronic mail) or transmissionbetween a machine and a computer for diagnosing and controlling themachine. Alternatively, the message may be transmitted using a mode ofcommunication that makes direct, end-to-end connections (e.g., using asocket connection to the ultimate destination) such as FTP and HTTP.

FIG. 2 illustrates the mechanical layout of an exemplary digital imageforming apparatus 24 (FIG. 1). In FIG. 2, 101 is a fan for the scanner,102 is a polygonal mirror used with a laser printer, and 103 designatesan Fθ lens used to collimate light from a laser (not illustrated).Reference numeral 104 designates a sensor for detecting light from thescanner. 105 is a lens for focusing light from the scanner onto thesensor 104, and 106 is a quenching lamp used to erase images on thephotoconductive drum 132. There is a charging corona unit 107 and adeveloping roller 108. Reference numeral 109 designates a lamp used toillustrate a document to be scanned, and 110, 111 and 112 designatemirrors used to reflect light onto the sensor 104.

A drum mirror 113 reflects light to the photoconductive drum 132originating from the polygon mirror 102. Reference numeral 114designates a fan used to cool the charging area of the digital imageforming apparatus. A first paper feed roller 115 feeds paper from thefirst paper cassette 117, and 116 is a manual feed table. Similarly, 118is a second paper feed roller for the second cassette 119. Referencenumeral 120 designates a relay roller, and 121 is a registration roller.122 is an image density sensor and 123 is a transfer/separation coronaunit. Reference numeral 124 is a cleaning unit, 125 is a vacuum fan, 126illustrates a transport belt, 127 is a pressure roller, and 128 is anexit roller. Reference numeral 129 is a hot roller used to fix toneronto the paper, 130 is an exhaust fan, and 131 is the main motor used todrive the digital image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of electronic components that may beused to illustrate certain elements illustrated in FIG. 2. CPU 160 maybe a microprocessor and acts as a system controller. Random accessmemory (RAM) 162 stores dynamically changing information includingoperating parameters of the digital image forming apparatus. Anonvolatile memory (e.g., a read only memory (ROM) 164 or a FlashMemory) stores the program code used to run the digital image formingapparatus, as well as static-state data describing the copier (e.g.,model number, serial number, and default parameters).

A multi-port network interface 166 allows the digital image formingapparatus to communicate with external devices through at least onenetwork. Reference number 168 represents a telephone, ISDN, or cableline, and numeral 170 represents another type of network. Additionaldetails of the multi-port network interface 166 are described withrespect to FIG. 4.

An interface (I/F) controller 172 is used to connect an operation panel174 to a system bus 186. The operation panel 174 includes standard inputand output devices found on a digital image forming apparatus includinga copy button, keys to control the operation of the copier such asnumber of copies, reduction/enlargement, darkness/lightness, etc.Additionally, a liquid crystal display may be included in operationpanel 174 to display parameters and messages of the digital imageforming apparatus to a user.

A local connection interface 171 is a connection through local portssuch as RS232, the parallel printer port, USB, and IEEE 1394. FireWire(IEEE 1394) is described in Wickelgren, I., “The Facts About “FireWire”,IEEE Spectrum, April 1997, Vol. 34, Number 4, pp. 19-25, the contents ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference. Preferably, communicationutilizes a “reliable” protocol—one with error detection andretransmission.

A storage interface 176 connects storage devices to system bus 186. Thestorage devices may include a flash memory 178 that can be substitutedby a conventional EEPROM, and a disk 182. The disk 182 may include oneor more of a hard disk, optical disk, and/or a floppy disk drive. Aconnection 180 to the storage interface 176 allows for additional tomemory devices to be connected to the digital image forming apparatus.The flash memory 178 is used to store semi-static state data thatdescribes parameters of the digital image forming apparatus that changeinfrequently over the life of the copier. Such parameters include theoptions and configuration of the digital image forming apparatus.

An option interface 184 allows additional hardware such as an externalinterface to be connected to the digital image forming apparatus. Aclock/timer 187 is utilized to keep track of both the time and date, andmay also measure elapsed time.

On the left side of FIG. 3, various sections making up the digital imageforming device are illustrated. Reference numeral 202 designates asorter, and contains sensors and actuators used to sort the output ofthe digital image forming device. There is a duplexer 200 that allows aduplex operation to be performed by the digital image forming device,and includes conventional sensors and actuators. A large capacity trayunit 198 allows paper trays holding a large number of sheets to be used,and includes conventional sensors and actuators.

A paper feed controller 196 is used to control the operation of feedingpaper into and through the digital image forming device. A scanner 194is used to scan images into the digital image forming device andincludes conventional scanning elements such as a light, mirror, etc.Additionally, scanner sensors are used, including a home position sensorto determine that the scanner is in the home position, and a lampthermistor to ensure proper operation of the scanning lamp.

A printer/imager 192 prints the output of the digital image formingdevice and includes a conventional laser printing mechanism, a tonersensor, and an image density sensor. A fuser 190 is used to fuse thetoner onto the page using a high temperature roller, and includes anexit sensor, a thermistor to assure that the fuser 190 is notoverheating, and an oil sensor.

Additionally, an optional unit interface 188 connects to optionalelements of the digital image forming device, such as an automaticdocument feeder, a different type of sorter/collator, or other elementsthat can be added to the digital image forming device.

FIG. 4 illustrates details of an exemplary multi-port network interface166 (FIG. 3). The digital image forming device may communicate toexternal devices through a Token Ring interface 220, a cable modem unit222 that has a high speed connection over cable, a conventionaltelephone interface 224 that connects to a telephone line 168A, an ISDNinterface 226 that connects to an ISDN line 168B, a wireless interface228, and an Ethernet interface 230 that connects to a LAN 170.

Other interfaces (not shown) include, but are not limited to, DigitalSubscriber Line (DSL) (including original DSL, concentric DSL, andasymmetric DSL). A single device that connects to both a Local AreaNetwork and a telephone line is commercially available from Megahertzand is known as the Ethernet-Modem.

The CPU 160 or other microprocessor or circuitry executes a monitoringprocess to monitor the state of each of the sensors of the digital imageforming device, and a sequencing process is used to execute codedinstructions to control and operate the digital image forming device.Additionally, a central system control process controls overalloperation of the digital image forming device, and a communicationprocess assures reliable communication to external devices connected tothe digital image forming device.

The system control process monitors and controls data storage in astatic state memory (e.g., ROM 164 of FIG. 3), a semi-static memory(e.g., flash memory 178 or disk 182), or a dynamic state memory (e.g., avolatile or non-volatile memory (e.g., the RAM 162 or the flash memory178 or disk 182)). Additionally, the static state memory may be a deviceother than ROM 164, such as a non-volatile memory including either aflash memory 178 or a disk 182.

The above details have been described with respect to a digital imageforming device, but the present invention is equally applicable to otherbusiness office machines or devices such as an analog copier, afacsimile machine, a scanner, a printer, a facsimile server, or otherbusiness office machines and business office appliance, or appliances(e.g., a microwave oven, VCR, digital camera, cellular phone, palm topcomputer).

Additionally, the present invention may be practiced with other types ofdevices that operate using store-and-forward or direct connection-basedcommunication. Such devices include metering systems (including gas,water, or electricity metering systems), vending machines, or anymechanical devices (e.g., automobiles) that need to be monitored duringoperation or remotely diagnosed. In addition to monitoring specialpurpose machines and computers, the invention can be used to monitor,control, and diagnose a general purpose computer that would constitutethe monitored and/or controlled device.

FIG. 5 illustrates a system diagram of an alternative embodiment of theinvention, in which different devices and subsystems are connected tothe WAN 10 which may be the Internet. However, there is no requirementto have all of these devices or subsystems as part of the invention,although each individual component or subsystem may be employed as partof the embodiment of the invention. Further, the elements illustrated inFIG. 1 may be connected to the WAN 10 which is illustrated in FIG. 5.

In FIG. 5, a firewall 50-1 is connected to an intranet 260-1. A servicemachine 254 connected to the intranet 260-1 includes therein or hasconnected thereto data 256 which may be stored in a database format.Data 256 may include history, performance, malfunction, and any otherinformation including statistical information of the operation orfailure or set-up and components or optional equipment of devices thatare monitored. Service machine 254 may be implemented as the device orcomputer that requests the monitored devices to transmit data, or thatrequests that remote control and/or diagnostic tests be performed on themonitored devices. Service machine 254 may be implemented as any type ofdevice, and is preferably implemented using a computerized device suchas a general purpose computer.

Another sub-system of FIG. 5 includes a firewall 50-2, an intranet260-2, and a printer 262 connected thereto. In this sub-system, thefunctions of sending and receiving electronic messages by the printer262 (and similarly by a copier 286) are performed by circuitry, by amicroprocessor, or by any other type of hardware contained within ormounted to the printer 262 (i.e., without using a separate generalpurpose computer).

An alternate type of sub-system includes the use of an Internet serviceprovider (ISP) 264, that may be, for example, as America Online,Earthlink, and Niftyserve. In this sub-system, a computer 266 isconnected to the ISP 264 through a digital or analog modem (e.g., atelephone line modem, a cable modem, modems that use any type of wiressuch as modems used over an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)line, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), modems that use framerelay communication, wireless modems such as a radio frequency modem, afiber optic modem, or a device that uses infrared light waves). Further,a business office device 268 is connected to the computer 266.

As an alternative to the business office device 268 and to any otherdevice illustrated in FIG. 5, a different type of machine may bemonitored or controlled, such as a digital copier, any type ofappliance, security system, or utility meter such as an electrical,water, or gas utility meter, or any other device discussed herein.

Also illustrated in FIG. 5 is a firewall 50-3 connected to a network274. Network 274 may be implemented as any type of computer network,(e.g., an Ethernet or token-ring network). Networking software that maybe used to control the network includes any desired networking softwareincluding software commercially available from Novell or Microsoft. Thenetwork 274 may be implemented as an Intranet, if desired.

A computer 272 connected to network 274 may be used to obtaininformation from a business office device 278 and generate reports suchas reports showing problems that occurred in various machines connectedto the network and a monthly usage report of the devices connected tothe network 274. In this embodiment, a computer 276 is connected betweenthe business office device 278 and the network 274. This computerreceives communications from the network and forwards the appropriatecommands or data, or any other information, to the business officedevice 278. Communication between business office device 278 andcomputer 276 may be accomplished using wire-based or wireless methodsincluding, but not limited to, radio frequency connections, electricalconnections and light connections (e.g., infrared or fiber opticsconnection).

Similarly, each of the various networks and intranets illustrated inFIG. 5 may be established in any desired manner, including wirelessnetworks such as radio frequency networks. The wireless communicationdescribed herein may be established using spread spectrum techniquesincluding techniques that use a spreading code and frequency hoppingtechniques such as the frequency hopping wireless technique disclosed inBluetooth Specification 1.0A (available at the World Wide Web sitewww.bluetooth.com), which is incorporated herein by reference.

Another sub-system illustrated in FIG. 5 includes a firewall 50-4, anintranet 260-4, a computer 282 connected thereto, a business officeappliance 285 and a copier 286. The computer 282 may be used to generatereports and request diagnostic or control procedures. These diagnosticand control procedures may be performed with respect to the businessoffice appliance 285 and the copier 286 or any of the other devicesillustrated in or used with FIG. 5.

While FIG. 5 illustrates a plurality of firewalls, the firewalls arepreferable but optional equipment, and therefore the invention, may beoperated without the use of firewalls if desired.

FIG. 6A illustrates a device/appliance 300 connected to a typical e-mailexchange system that includes components 302, 304, 306, 308, 310, 312,314, 316, and 318 which may be implemented in a conventional manner andare adapted from FIG. 28.1 of Stevens, above. A computer interface 302interfaces with any of the application units or devices/appliances 300described herein.

While FIG. 6A illustrates that the device/appliance 300 is the sender,the sending and receiving functions may be reversed in FIG. 6A.Furthermore, if desired, the user may not need to interface with thedevice/appliance 300 at all. The computer interface 302 then interactswith a mail agent 304. Popular mail agents for Unix include MH, BerkeleyMail, Elm, and Mush. Mail agents for the Windows family of operatingsystems include Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express. At therequest of the computer interface 302, the mail agent 304 creates e-mailmessages to be sent and, if desired, places these messages to be sent ina queue 306.

The mail to be sent is forwarded to a Message Transfer Agent (MTA) 308.A common MTA for Unix systems is Sendmail. Typically, the messagetransfer agents 308 and 312 exchange communications using a TCP/IPconnection 310. Notably, the communication between the message transferagents 308 and 312 may occur over any size network (e.g., WAN or LAN).Further, message transfer agents 308 and 312 may utilize anycommunication protocol. In one embodiment of the present invention,elements 302 and 304 of FIG. 6A reside in the library to monitor theapplication unit's usage.

From message transfer agent 312, e-mail messages are stored in usermailboxes 314 that are transferred to the mail agent 316 and areultimately transmitted to the user at a terminal 318 that functions as areceiving terminal.

This “store-and-forward” process relieves the sending mail agent 304from having to wait to establish a direct connection with the mailrecipient. Because of network delays, the communication could require asubstantial amount of time during which the application would beunresponsive. Such unresponsiveness is generally unacceptable to usersof the application unit. But by using e-mail as the store-and-forwardprocess, retransmission attempts after failures occur automatically fora fixed period of time (e.g., three days).

In an alternate embodiment, the application can avoid waiting by passingcommunicating requests to one or more separate threads. Those threadscan then control communication with the receiving terminal 318 while theapplication begins responding to the user interface again.

In yet another embodiment in which a user wishes to have communicationcompleted before continuing, direct communication with the receivingterminal is used. Such direct communication can utilize any protocol notblocked by a firewall between the sending and receiving terminals.Examples of such protocols include File Transfer Protocol (FTP) andHyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Public WANs, such as the Internet, are generally not considered to besecure. Therefore, messages transmitted over the public WANs (andmulti-company private WANs) should be encrypted to keep the messagesconfidential. Encryption mechanisms are known and commercially availablethat may be used with the present invention. For example, a C++ libraryfunction, crypt( ), is available from Sun Microsystems for use with theUnix operating system. Other encryption and decryption software packagesare known and commercially available and may also be used with thisinvention. One such package is PGP Virtual Private Network (VPN)available from Network Associates. Other VPN software is available fromMicrosoft Corporation.

As an alternative to the general structure of FIG. 6A, FIG. 6B shows asingle computer 301 that functions as the computer interface 302, themail agent 304, the mail queue 306 and the message transfer agent 308.As illustrated in FIG. 6B, device/appliance 300 is connected to acomputer 301 which includes the message transfer agent 308.

A further alternative structure is shown in FIG. 6C, in which messagetransfer agent 308 is formed as part of the device/appliance 300.Further, message transfer agent 308 is connected to message transferagent 312 by a TCP/IP connection 310. In the embodiment of FIG. 6C,device/appliance 300 is directly connected to the TCP/IP connection 310and has e-mail capability. One use of the embodiment of FIG. 6C includesusing a facsimile machine with an e-mail capability (e.g., as defined inRFC 2305 (a simple mode of facsimile using Internet mail)) as thedevice/appliance 300.

FIG. 6D illustrates still another alternative system in which adevice/appliance 300 does not itself have the capability to directlyreceive e-mail, but has a connection 310 to a mail server/POP3 server.The mail server/POP3 serves includes a message transfer agent 308 and amail box 314 so that the device/appliance 300 uses the POP3 protocol toretrieve received mail from the mail server.

FIG. 7 illustrates an alternative implementation of transferring mailand is adapted from FIG. 28.3 of Stevens, referenced previously. FIG. 7illustrates an electronic mail system having a relay system at each end.The arrangement of FIG. 7 allows one system at an organization to act asa mail hub. In FIG. 7, there are four MTAs connected between the twomail agents 304 and 316, including local MTA 322A, relay MTAs 328A,328B, and local MTA 322D. The most common protocol used for mailmessages is SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) which may be used withthis invention, although any desired mail protocol may be utilized.

In FIG. 7, sending host 320 includes a computer interface 302, mailagent 304, and local MTA 322A. The device/appliance 300 is connected to,or alternatively included within, sending host 320. As another case, thedevice/appliance 300 and host 320 can be in one machine where the hostcapability is built into the device/appliance 300. Other local MTAs322B, 322C, 322E and 322F may also be included. Mail to be transmittedand received may be queued in a mail queue 306B of relay MTA 328A. Themessages are transferred across the TCP/IP connection 310 (e.g., anInternet connection or a connection across any other type of network).

The transmitted messages are received by the relay MTA 328B and ifdesired, stored in a mail queue 306C. The mail is then forwarded to thelocal MTA 322D of a receiving host 342. The mail may be placed in one ormore user mailboxes 314, subsequently forwarded to the mail agent 316,and finally forwarded to the user at a terminal 318. If desired, themail may be directly forwarded to the terminal without user interaction.

The various computers utilized by the present invention, including thecomputers 266 and 276 of FIG. 5, may be implemented as illustrated inFIG. 8. Further, any other computer utilized by this invention may beimplemented in a similar manner to the computer illustrated in FIG. 8,if desired, including the service machine 254, computer 272, andcomputer 282 of FIG. 5. However, not every element illustrated in FIG. 8is required in each of those computers.

In FIG. 8, computer 360 includes a CPU 362 that may be implemented asany type of processor including commercially available microprocessorsfrom companies such as Intel, AMD, Motorola, Hitachi and NEC. There is aworking memory such as a RAM 364, and a wireless interface 366 thatcommunicates with a wireless device 368. Communication between interface366 and device 368 may use any wireless medium (e.g., radio waves orlight waves). The radio waves may be implemented using a spread spectrumtechnique such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) communication, orusing a frequency hopping technique such as that disclosed in theBluetooth specification.

There is a ROM 370 and a flash memory 371, although any other type ofnon-volatile memory (e.g., EPROM, or an EEPROM) may be utilized inaddition to or in place of the flash memory 371. An input controller 372has connected thereto a keyboard 374 and a mouse 376. There is a serialinterface 378 connected to a serial device 380.

Additionally, a parallel interface 382 is connected to a parallel device384, a universal serial bus (USB) interface 386 is connected to auniversal serial bus device 388. An IEEE 1394 device 400, commonlyreferred to as a fire wire device, is connected to an IEEE 1394interface 398.

The various elements of the computer 360 are connected by a system bus390. A disk controller 396 is connected to a floppy disk drive 394 and ahard disk drive 392. A communication controller 406 allows the computer360 to communicate with other computers (e.g., by sending e-mailmessages) over a telephone line 402 or a network 404. An I/O(Input/Output) controller 408 is connected to a printer 410 and a harddisk 412, for example using a SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)bus. There is also a display controller 416 connected to a CRT (CathodeRay Tube) 414, although any other type of display may be used includinga liquid crystal display, a light emitting diode display, a plasmadisplay, etc.

FIG. 9 illustrates an application of the present invention. Devices 901,903, 905 and 907 that are connected to an Intranet 910 are the devicesto be monitored locally by workstation 911 with its database 913.Alternatively, workstation 911 can send device status information to amonitoring workstation 945 by polling the information from the monitoreddevices 901, 903, 905, and 907 and then sending the information througha firewall 917. Workstation 911, therefore, can function either as amonitoring device or as a communication and administrative devicebetween the monitored devices and monitoring device.

In FIG. 9, workstation 911 preferably uses SNMP defined by IETF tocommunicate with the attached devices. SNMP is described in “ManagingInternetworks with SNMP, third edition” by Mark A. Miller, P.E., M & TBook, 1999. The contents of this reference are incorporated herein byreference. If some of the devices do not support SNMP, workstation 911can use different methods to obtain the necessary information. Afterobtaining the necessary information, workstation 911 uses SMTP server915 to send out the necessary information to the monitoring workstation945 through the mail server 943 that supports Post Office ProtocolVersion 3 (POP3) (IETF Networking Group Request For Comments [RFC]:1939).

Workstation 911 preferably uses Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTPdefined in IETF RFC 821) and possibly MIME to send e-mails. Workstation911 generates the mail message that is at and above the ApplicationLayer of the TCP/IP model or ISO seven-layer model as shown later.Alternatively, workstation 911 may contain SMTP processor to send outthe necessary information using e-mail.

Similarly, the LAN 920 and Intranet 930 are sending similar informationto monitoring workstation 945. When the e-mails that contain themonitoring information of devices arrive at firewall 941 of the intranet950, the mail is routed to the mail server 943 with POP3. Workstation945 periodically accesses the mail server 943 to obtain the receivede-mail via POP3, parse the e-mail and its content, and stores thenecessary information in the database 947. Database 949 contains theadditional information of the monitored device characteristics andhistory.

Computers 951 and 953 perform the analysis of obtained data to take thenecessary actions. Alternatively, workstation 945 may contain emailreceiving capability and the firewall may route the e-mail directly tothe workstation 945.

FIG. 10 illustrates an overall architecture of the exemplary systemshown in FIG. 9. The upper portion 1000 of FIG. 10 corresponds tonetworks that send e-mails with the information on the monitored devicesin FIG. 9, while the lower portion 1010 of FIG. 10 shows the receivingside (intranet 950) in FIG. 9.

Sender service 1001 is the system resident software that sets up thedestination for the monitored information to be sent, initiates thesending of the configuration and contact information to the destination,and periodically monitors and sends the status information to thedestination by using the three functions defined in 1000 to trigger theMonitor_Send DLL 1003.

Monitor_Send DLL 1003 uses two other modules, database 1005 to store thedevice information and device related information along with themonitored information that needs to be stored between sending out, andSNMP++ DLL 1007 that is used to obtain the information from the devicesvia SNMP.

Receiver Service 1011 is the system resident software that sets upaccess to the mail server where the monitored information is sent to,and periodically obtains the monitored information from the mail serverby using the two functions defined in 1010 to trigger the Receive_StoreDLL 1013. Receive_Store DLL 1013 uses two other modules: database 1017to store device information and device related information along withthe monitored information, and POP3 1015 that is used to retrieve theinformation from the mail server.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of general architecture of Monitor_SendDLL 1003 (FIG. 10). This part of the system is responsible formonitoring the status of the devices and for sending the e-mails withthe information on the monitored devices. An interface 1101 allows anyapplication to use the Monitor_Send DLL. For example, the Sender Service1001 in FIG. 10 uses interface 1101 to use Monitor_Send DLL.

Device Information 1105 is responsible for obtaining configurationinformation of the monitored devices, and initiating the sending of theinformation. Device Monitor 1103 is also responsible for obtaininginformation about the status of the monitored device and initiating thesending of the information.

Data Transfer 1107 is responsible for sending information, and an ODBC(Open DataBase Connectivity) Interface 1109 is responsible for accessingand storing information in a database.

Each of the components of the Monitor_Send DLL include interfacefunctions that allow them to perform its tasks.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary architecture of the Receive_Store DLL1013 (FIG. 10), which is responsible for retrieving information that wassent to it by the Monitor_Send DLL 1003 (FIGS. 10 and 11) and storingthe information in the database. The architecture includes sixcomponents:

-   -   Interface 1201 allows any application to use the Receive_Store        DLL. For example, Receiver Service 1011 in FIG. 10 uses        Interface 1201 to use the Receive_Store DLL.    -   Receive Manager 1203 is responsible for obtaining configuration        information and status information of the monitored devices from        the POP3 server, and for storing the information in the        database.    -   Data Retriever 1205 is responsible for retrieving the data from        the POP3 server.    -   POP3 Processor 1207 is responsible for accessing the information        sent to it by the Monitor_Send DLL 1003 (FIG. 11).    -   Parser 1211 is responsible for parsing the information obtained        from the POP3 server.    -   Finally, ODBC Interface 1209 is responsible for storing the        information sent to it.        Each of the components of the Receive_Store DLL 1013 provides        interface functions that allow them to perform their tasks.

FIG. 13 illustrates how an object in Receiver Manager 1203 interactswith Data Retriever 1205 and ODBC Interface 1209 (all previouslydiscussed with reference to FIG. 12). Receiver Manager 1203 isresponsible for retrieving the device information and status informationabout the network devices from the received email messages, and forstoring the information into the database. Receiver Manager 1203includes a single class, CReceiverManager 1301, that performs variousfunctions:

-   -   CReceiverManager 1301 calls getInformationType( ) of Data        Retriever 1205 to determine the type of information, whether        configuration information or status information, of the        monitored devices, that was obtained from the mail server. Based        upon the obtained type, CReceiverManager calls different        functions of Data Retriever 1205 with respective data        structures.    -   CReceiverManager 1301 calls getStatusData( ) of Data Retriever        1205 to obtain the status information of the monitored devices        by passing by reference, the DeviceStatus data structure.    -   Then, CReceiverManager 1301 calls setStatusData( ) of ODBC        Interface 1209 to store the status information in the database        by passing the obtained reference to the DeviceStatus data        structure.

The configuration information of the monitored devices are obtained andstored in a similar manner, except that the DeviceInfo data structure isused instead of the DeviceStatus data structure:

-   -   CReceiverManager 1301 calls getDeviceInformation( ) function of        Data Retriever 1205 to obtain the Device Configuration        Information by passing by reference, the DeviceInfo data        structure, as shown in FIG. 12.    -   CReceiverManager 1301 then calls setDeviceInformation( )        function of ODBC Interface 1209 to store Device Information in        the database by passing the obtained reference to the DeviceInfo        data structure.

To further describe FIG. 13 in a more sequential operational manner:CReceiverManager 1301 passes a data structure into Data Retriever 1205(detailed in FIGS. 14, 15B and 15D) to obtain status information fromthe email message. Then, CReceiverManager 1301 passes the data structureinto the ODBC Interface 1209 (detailed in FIGS. 23, 24 and 26A) to storethe status information in the database. After CReceiverManager 1301determines that the information type in the email message is statusinformation by calling the function getInformationType( ) of DataRetriever 1205, CReceiverManager 1301 calls the getStatusData( )function in Data Retriever 1205 to retrieve the status information fromthe email message. As the status information is extracted from the emailmessage by the Data Retriever 1205 one line at a time, the statusinformation is stored in the DeviceStatus data structure (FIG. 23element 2313) that was passed into the getStatusData( ) function.

After all the status information is extracted from the email message fora monitored device and stored in the DeviceStatus data structure 2313,CReceiverManager 1301 calls the setStatusData( ) function of ODBCInterface 1209 to store the status information in a database.CReceiverManager 1301 passes the DeviceStatus data structure 2313 intoODBC Interface through this setStatusData( ) function, and the statusinformation stored in the DeviceStatus structure 2313 is copied into thedatabase.

A reference to the DeviceStatus structure 2313 is passed into DataRetriever 1205 and into ODBC Interface 1209 so that the same structureis used by the Data Retriever and the ODBC Interface. Thus, there is nocopying of the DeviceStatus data structure 2313 itself as it is passedinto Data Retriever 1205 or ODBC Interface 1209. By passing a referenceto the DeviceStatus structure 2313 into the getStatusData( ) function ofData Retriever 1205, the status information is directly stored in theDeviceStatus structure passed into this getStatusData( ) function. Aftercompleting the execution of the getStatusData( ) function of DataRetriever 1205, the contents of the DeviceStatus structure 2313 containthe status information extracted from the email message.

The foregoing implementation involves passing data structures,DeviceInfo and DeviceStatus, by reference, rather than passing them byvalue. A description of passing by reference and passing by value into afunction is provided in Addison Wesley's The C++Programming Language,Special Edition by Bjarne Stroustrup, on pages 145-147, which isincorporated herein by reference.

If, hypothetically, the DeviceStatus structure 2313 was passed into thegetStatusData( ) function of Data Retriever 1205 by value, rather thanby reference, a copy of the DeviceStatus structure 2313 would be used bygetStatusData( ). After completing the execution of the getStatusData( )function of Data Retriever 1205, the copy of the DeviceStatus structure2313 would contain the status information extracted from the emailmessage. However, disadvantageously, the DeviceStatus structure 2313that was passed in, to would not contain the status informationextracted from the email. Therefore, CReceiverManager 1301 must pass theDeviceStatus structure by reference into the getStatusData( ) functionof Data Retriever 1205 in order to obtain the status information fromthe email message.

When the getStatusData( ) function of Data Retriever 1205 is completed,the DeviceStatus structure 2313 that was passed by reference containsstatus information from the email message. Stated another way, when thegetStatusData( ) function returns from execution, the DeviceStatusstructure 2313 is returned with the status information from the emailmessage.

In a manner similar to that described above, for status information,configuration information is extracted from the email message by DataRetriever and stored in the data structure DeviceInfo. The configurationinformation is stored in the database by copying the information fromthe DeviceInfo structure into the database.

The process carried out by Receiver Manager 1203 (FIGS. 12, 13) is nowdescribed in more detail.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary class diagram of Data Retriever 1205.Data Retriever 1205 is responsible for determining the type ofinformation in an email message and for obtaining the device informationand status information from the email message. Data Retriever 1205contains one class, CDataRetriever 1401.

CDataRetriever 1401 is responsible for retrieving the configurationinformation or status information from the POP3 server. CDataRetriever1401 uses POP3 Processor 1207 to obtain the message from the POP3server. CDataRetriever 1401 uses Parser 1211 to parse the message toobtain the configuration information or status information.

FIG. 15A is a flowchart showing how information about a remotelymonitored device is extracted according to message type and datastructure. The message types may designate, for example, deviceconfiguration information as distinguished from device statusinformation. The data structure varies according to message type, andmay even be different for different messages having the same messagetype. The flowchart of FIG. 15A may be implemented, for example, usingan object-oriented approach using the classes of FIG. 14 and thecollaboration diagram of FIG. 15B.

It is assumed that an email message containing the information has beenreceived by, for example, a firewall 941 (FIG. 9). The email message mayhave traveled from a device 901, 903, 905, 907, via any of a variety ofpaths, including a firewall 917, LAN 920, LAN/Intranet 930, or theInternet. After the email is received, the received email is assumed tohave been routed to an email server such as a POP3 server. In FIG. 9, aPOP3 server is illustrated as being in a dedicated computer 943, but itis understood that a monitoring workstation 945 or other processingdevice may itself include the email server to which the email may bedirectly routed. After the email server in computer 943 or otherprocessing device has received the email that has been routed to it,monitoring workstation 945 or other suitable processing device extractsthe portion of the email containing the information concerning themonitored device. This extraction may be, for example, the extraction ofa MIME attachment, and may be performed by the same or a differentprocessing device as the one in which the email server is resident.

Briefly, email messages may contain different types of information evenif the format of the email messages is the same. A preferred embodimentinvolves extracting a data to type from the email message, determiningwhich data structure to use to store the information, extracting theinformation from the email message, storing the data in the datastructure, and placing the data in the data structure into the database.In a preferred embodiment, the email message contains information aboutthe data type that lets the system determine which type of datastructure to use to store the data; the data structure itself is notdefined in the email message as such, but the data structure isdetermined by the message type found in the email message.

The process of FIG. 15A proceeds as follows. The process begins with thestep 1502 of extracting the first line from the portion of the emailcontaining the configuration information or status information. In aparticular embodiment, the first line is understood to contain themessage type designation. Once extracted, the first line is parsed instep 1504 so as to isolate the message type designation. The messagetype designation may be, for example, configuration information, statusinformation, and so forth. Once isolated, the message type designationis extracted from the parsed first line in step 1506. At this time, theprocessing device recognizes the message type that has been received.

Blocks 1508 through 1514 indicate functions that are preformed once foreach line in the email message. If, as is the normal case, more than oneline is present in an email message for a given device being monitored,blocks 1508 through 1514 constitute a loop.

The first loop 1508-1514 and block 1516 are executed once for eachmonitored device. Thus, if more than one monitored device is reported inthe email message, then 1508-1516 constitute an outer loop that containsinner loop 1508-1514. The functions in these nested loops are discussedbelow, with reference to examples in TABLES ONE, TWO, FOUR, and FIVE.

Once the message type has been determined, the data structure used tosubsequently store the information in the subsequent lines of the emailis defined. In the example discussed below, if the message type isconfiguration information, the data structure defined to store theinformation is DeviceInfo as specified in TABLE FOUR. If the messagetype is status information, the data structure defined to store theinformation is DeviceStatus as specified in TABLE FIVE.

As lines subsequent to the first line are extracted (step 1508), the“type” of data (step 1510) and its value (step 1512) are extracted fromthe line and placed into the appropriate data structure, eitherDeviceInfo or DeviceStatus (step 1514). The subsequent lines do notdefine the data structure of the information.

The data structures are already defined once the message type is known.TABLE ONE and TABLE TWO show the lines of text in an email messagecontaining configuration information and status information,respectively. This data does not represent or define the structure forthe configuration information or status information, but constitutes thedata that is stored in either the DeviceInfo structure or DeviceStatusstructure.

Referring again to FIG. 15A, after the message type has been extractedfrom the first line, a subsequent line of the email (or portion thereof,such as a MIME attachment containing the relevant device configurationor status information) is parsed in step 1508.

Step 1510 involves extracting the type of configuration information ortype of status information from the line (such as MACAddress for theconfiguration information or lowPaper for the status information, asshown in TABLE ONE and TABLE TWO, respectively). Once the data type hasbeen determined, the value of the data type is extracted in step 1512from the line (such as 00 00 aa 5e 1d fc for the MACAddress or 0 for thelowPaper as shown in TABLE ONE and TABLE TWO, respectively). Once thedata type and value of the data type are extracted, the value of thedata type can be assigned to the appropriate data structure in step1514.

Steps 1508 through 1514 are repeated for each line of the email messageuntil all the lines of data for the monitored device is extracted. Aseparator is encountered that separates the information for thedifferent monitored devices. The separator indicates the end ofinformation for the monitored device and beginning of information forthe next monitored device.

Steps 1508 through 1516 are repeated for each monitored device in theemail message until the entire email message is extracted. Since anemail message may contain the configuration information or statusinformation of more than one monitored device, the data is extracted andstored for each monitored device.

In the foregoing manner, an email message is received before the messagetype and the information it contains are known. This arrangement allowsa wide variety of message types and information to be communicated inthe same way, and be decomposed and analyzed at the receiving end. Thedecomposition at the receiving end allows the sending devices and thecommunication techniques to be chosen independently of the particularmessage type and information being communicated. Conversely, theflexibility of having the message type designation and informationwithin the message allows these items to be changed without regard tothe particular sending device or communication technique.

Though the present description refers to two types of information(status information and configuration information) received in the emailmessage, the invention envisions that additional types of informationcan be incorporated in email messages. The Parser in the Receive_StoreDLL in each case knows how to parse each information type, and a datastructure appropriate to the information type is used to store theinformation in the database after the information is extracted from theemail.

TABLE ONE shows an example of part of a message containing configurationinformation about a monitored device, before the message is encryptedand encoded (or after it has been decoded and decrypted). This part ofthe email message is extracted and parsed one line at a time to obtainthe message type and the configuration information about the monitoreddevice.

TABLE ONE Example of Email Containing “Configuration Information”DataType, DeviceInformation &&&&& MACAddress, 00 00 aa 5e 1d fcdateTime, 2000:08:14:14:57:15 Manufacturer, Xerox Model, DocuPrint N4025Network Laser Printer ... ContactPerson, Ricoh Joe PhoneNumber,800-555-1234 &&&&& MACAddress, 08 00 11 0f a5 33 dateTime,2000:08:14:14:57:15 Manufacturer, Tektronix Inc Model, Phaser 750P ...ContactPerson, Ricoh Joe PhoneNumber, 800-555-1234 #####

In TABLE ONE, the message type and configuration information come intype-value pairs. For example, the first line contains information aboutthe message type. The type is “DataType” and the value is“DeviceInformation” (Configuration Information).

The “&&&&&” separates the configuration information of differentdevices. The message can contain configuration information for multipledevices. The “#####” ends the message for the configuration information.

For each device, there are multiple type-value pairs to represent theconfiguration information. For example, “Manufacturer, Xerox” representsthe information about the manufacturer of the device. The type is“Manufacturer” and the value is “Xerox”.

In the example of TABLE ONE, the type and value are represented asstrings in the message. However, the type may also be represented by anumeric code in which a number represents a specific type ofinformation. Whether the line of the message contains message type orconfiguration information, the line of message is extracted and parsedto obtain the type and value for the line. The value is stored in theappropriate data structure.

TABLE TWO shows an example of part of a message containing statusinformation about a monitored device. Just as with the configurationinformation, the message type and status information are represented astype-value pairs on each line of the message. A line of the message isextracted and parsed to obtain the type and value for the line. Thevalue is stored in the appropriate data structure.

TABLE TWO Example of Email Containing “Status Information” DataType,StatusInformation &&&&& MACAddress, 00 00 aa 5e 1d fc dateTime,2000:08:14:14:57:15 sysUpTime, 18987385 hrDeviceErrors, 0hrPrinterStatus, 3 lowPaper, 0 noPaper, 0 lowToner, 0 noToner, 0doorOpen, 0 jammed, 0 offline, 0 serviceRequested, 0prtGeneralConfigChanges, 14 prtMarkerLifeCount, 1025prtMarkerSuppliesLevel1, −3 &&&&& MACAddress, 08 00 11 0f a5 33dateTime, 2000:08:14:14:57:15 sysUpTime, 18119400 hrDeviceErrors, 0hrPrinterStatus, 1 lowPaper, 0 noPaper, 0 lowToner, 0 noToner, 0doorOpen, 0 jammed, 0 offline, 0 serviceRequested, 0prtGeneralConfigChanges, 1 prtMarkerLifeCount, 202prtMarkerSuppliesLevel1, 408594 prtMarkerSuppliesLevel2, 465760prtMarkerSuppliesLevel3, 560748 prtMarkerSuppliesLevel4, 330950 #####

Whether the information is configuration information or statusinformation, the information can be stored in different data structuresfor the different message types. The appropriate data structure is usedto store information provided in the message. After the message type isdetermined, the data structure is defined to store the subsequent linesof the message containing the information.

Parser 1211 is responsible for parsing each line of configurationinformation and status information, and obtaining the type-value pair.Then, Parser 1211 places the information into the data structure asdescribed with reference to TABLE FOUR and TABLE FIVE. The Parser modulecontains only one class, CParser, that performs all the functions of theParser module.

FIG. 15B illustrates how the objects in FIG. 14 interact to retrievefrom the POP3 server, the type of information in a received email. Theobjects distinguish configuration information from status information.

To perform the method of FIG. 15A, CDataRetriever 1501 performs thefollowing calls:

-   -   CDataRetriever 1501 calls getNextMessage( ) of POP3 Processor        1207 (FIG. 12) to obtain the next message in the POP3 server.    -   Then, CDataRetriever 1501 calls getNextLineOfMessage( ) of POP3        Processor 1207 (FIG. 12) to obtain the first line of the        message.    -   Finally, CDataRetriever 1501 calls getInfoType( ) of Parser 1211        (FIG. 12) to determine the type of information contained in the        message by parsing the first line of the message.        Parser 1211 contains two public functions:    -   setDeviceInfo and    -   setDeviceStatus.        Both functions receive the string message line obtained from        POP3 Processor 1207 and reference to the appropriate data        structure (DeviceInfo or DeviceStatus). Parser 1211 parses the        message line, and if it recognizes appropriate data for the data        structure, it puts the recognized data into the data structure.

As discussed above, TABLE ONE and TABLE TWO provide examples of thelines of data from which the Parser class extracts information, such asdata type, configuration information, and status information. FIG. 15Billustrates how CDataRetriever gets the first line of the email messagefrom the POP3 Processor and passes the line to Parser to determine themessage type. The function getInfoType( ) of Parser parses the firstline of the email message to determine if it contains the message type.

If it contains the message type, then it determines which message typeit is. TABLE ONE shows an example of an email message containingconfiguration information. The Parser determines from the first line,“DataType, DeviceInformation”, that this message contains configurationinformation. TABLE TWO shows an example of an email message containingstatus information. The Parser determines from the first line,“DataType, StatusInformation”, that this message contains statusinformation.

The collaboration diagrams of FIGS. 15C and 15D show how theconfiguration information and status information are obtained from thelines of the email message subsequent to the first line.

The collaboration diagram of FIG. 15C shows how the objects in FIG. 14interact to retrieve the configuration information from the POP3 server.CDataRetriever calls getNextLineOfMessage( ) of POP3 Processor to obtaina line containing configuration information from the email message. Theline is passed into Parser through the call setDeviceInfo( ) to parsethe configuration information contained in the line.

The DeviceInfo structure in TABLE FOUR is also passed into Parser alongwith the line through the call setDeviceInfo( ) so that theconfiguration information in the line can be assigned to the structure.The Parser extracts the type of configuration and value of the type fromthe line and assigns it to the DeviceInfo structure. CDataRetrievercontinues to call getNextLineOfMessage( ) of POP3 Processor andsetDeviceInfo( ) of Parser until a line is returned indicating that theend of information for the device has been encountered.

As an example from TABLE ONE, when the line “MACAddress, 00 00 aa 5e 1dfc” is passed into setDeviceInfo( ) of Parser, the Parser determines thetype of configuration to be the MAC address and its value to be “00 00aa 5e 1d fc”. This information is then placed into the DeviceInfostructure.

The collaboration diagram of FIG. 15D shows how the objects in FIG. 14interact to retrieve status information from the POP3 server.CDataRetriever calls getNextLineOfMessage( ) of POP3 Processor to obtaina line containing status information from the email message. The line ispassed into Parser through the call setDeviceStatus( ) to parse thestatus information contained in the line. The DeviceStatus structure asdescribed in TABLE FIVE is also passed into Parser along with the linethrough the call setDeviceStatus( ) so that the status information inthe line can be assigned to the structure.

Parser extracts the type of status and value of the type from the lineand assigns it to the DeviceStatus structure. CDataRetriever continuesto call getNextLineOfMessage( ) of POP3 Processor and setDeviceStatus () of Parser until a line is returned indicating that the end ofinformation for the device has been encountered.

As an example from TABLE TWO, when the line “sysUpTime, 18987385” ispassed into setDeviceStatus( ) of Parser, the Parser determines the typeof status to be the system up time and its value to be 18987385. Thisinformation is then placed into the DeviceStatus structure.

FIG. 16 illustrates an exemplary class diagram of POP3 Processor 1207(FIG. 12). This module is responsible for obtaining the email messagescontaining information about the network devices from a POP3 serverusing the POP3 protocol. The information is in the MIME attachment ofthe email message. This module is responsible for decoding the MIMEattachment using Base64 decoding and then decrypting the data. Afterthis package obtains each email message, it erases the email messagefrom the POP3 server.

POP3 Processor 1207 contains 6 classes: CPop3Processor 1601,CAttachmentExtractor 1603, CPop3 1605, CBase64Decoder 1607,CAbsDecrypter 1609, and CNullDecrypter 1611:

-   -   CPop3Processor 1601 is the interface to POP3 Processor 1207 to        access the POP3 server to obtain the e-mail message that        contains configuration information and status information.    -   CAttachmentExtractor 1603 is responsible for obtaining the MIME        attachment from the e-mail messages in the POP3 server.    -   CPop3 1605 is responsible for performing post office protocol        version 3 (POP3) for accessing the POP3 server.    -   CBase64Decoder 1607 is responsible for performing Base64        decoding of the message in the MIME attachment.    -   CAbsDecrypter 1609 and CNullDecrypter 1611 are responsible for        decrypting the message in the MIME attachment. CAbsDecrypter        1609 is an abstract class and CNullDecrypter 1611 is a derived        class of CAbsDecrypter 1609. This class structure allows for new        decryption methods to be added to POP3 Processor 1207. By adding        new derived classes of CAbsDecrypter 1609, new decryption        methods are added. CNullDecrypter 1611 does not perform any        decryption.

Other classes in FIG. 16 that are used by the above-listed classes inpost office protocol 3 processor 1207 are:

-   -   CSocket 1613 (from Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC)) is used        by CPop3 1605 to execute the POP3 commands.    -   CSystemRegistry 1615 (the Common module, which contains those        classes that can be used by all other modules in the system) is        used by CPop3 1605 to obtain information from the system's        registry needed to access the e-mail messages in the POP3        server.

FIG. 17 illustrates how the objects in FIG. 16 interact with each otherto initiate retrieval of messages from the POP3 server.

CPop3Processor 1701 calls startRetrieve( ) of CAttachmentExtractor 1703.CAttachmentExtractor 1703 calls createSocket( ) of CPop3 1705 to createa socket in order to use POP3. CAttachmentExtractor 1703 callsconnectSocket( ) of CPop3 1705 to connect to a socket through which thePOP3 commands will be sent. CPop3 1705 calls Connect( ) and Receive( )of CSocket 1713 to connect to a socket. CAttachmentExtractor 1703 sendsthe POP3 commands USER and PASS to access the e-mail messages of thePOP3 server. For each of these functions, CPop3 1705 calls Send( ) andReceive( ) of CSocket 1713 to send the command to the socket and toobtain a response from the socket for each command. CPop3Processor 1701calls getNumberOfMessage( ) of CAttachmentExtractor 1703 to obtain thenumber of messages in the POP3 server. CAttachmentExtractor 1703 callssendStatusCommand( ) of CPop3 1705 to send the POP3 command STAT toobtain the number of messages. CPop3 1705 calls Send( ) and Receive( )of CSocket 1713 to send the STAT command to the socket and to obtain aresponse from the socket for the command.

FIG. 18 illustrates how the objects in FIG. 16 interact with each otherto retrieve a message from the POP3 server.

CPop3Processor 1701 calls getNextMessage( ) of CAttachmentExtractor 1703to obtain the next message from the POP3 server. CAttachmentExtractor1703 calls to sendRetrCommand( ) of CPop3 1705 to send the POP3 commandRETR to obtain the next message. CPop3 1705 calls Send( ) and Receive( )of CSocket 1713 to send the RETR command to the socket and to obtain amessage from the socket for the command. CAttachmentExtractor 1703 callssendDeleCommand( ) of CPop3 1705 to send the POP3 command DELE to deletethe message that was just retrieved. CPop3 1705 calls Send( ) andReceive( ) of CSocket 1713 to send the DELE command to the socket and toobtain a response from the socket for the command.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a method by which information concerning aremotely monitored device and sent by email is received, routed,extracted from the email, decoded and decrypted, according to anexemplary embodiment of the invention. In this discussion, reference ismade to the system block diagram of FIG. 9.

The process begins with the receipt of the email by, for example,firewall 941 (FIG. 9). The email containing the information may havetraveled from a device 901, 903, 905, 907, via any of a variety ofpaths, including a firewall 917, LAN 920, LAN/Intranet 930, or theInternet. This receipt of the email is indicated by step 1902 (FIG. 19).

After the email is received, the process proceeds to step 1904, therouting of the received email to an email server such as a POP3 server.In FIG. 9, a POP3 server is illustrated as being in a dedicated computer943, but it is understood that a monitoring workstation 945 or otherprocessing device may itself include the email server to which the emailmay be directly routed.

After the email server in computer 943 or other processing device hasreceived the email that has been routed to it, monitoring workstation945 or other suitable processing to device extracts the portion of theemail containing the information concerning the monitored device. Thisextraction is shown as step 1906, and of course may be performed by thesame or a different processing device as the one in which the emailserver is resident.

In a particular example, the information is contained in an attachmentto the email, such as a MIME attachment. It is envisioned that thisextraction step 1906 may be optional, and does not have to be executedin embodiments in which the entire email constitutes the information andthere is no smaller “portion” of the email that needs to be extracted.

After workstation 945 has performed any necessary extraction from theemail, the process continues to step 1908 in which workstation 945decodes the portion of the email containing the information. Thedecoding corresponds to any encoding that is performed on the email atthe sending end, and thus may constitute any appropriate decodingoperation. In one embodiment, the decoding step 1908 involves decodingBase64-encoded data.

After the decoding is performed, the process proceeds to step 1910 whichindicates workstation 945's decryption of the decoded portion of theemail. The decryption is matched to the particular type of encryptionused at the sending end, and may be involve of a variety of encryptiontechniques.

In a particular preferred embodiment, decryption step 1910 may bedecomposed into blocks 1992 and 1994. Step 1992 represents the invokingof a virtual function such as that in abstract class CAbsDecrypter 1609(FIG. 16). Step 1994 represents the execution of an actual (real)decryption function of a derived class. In the event that no encryptionis used, then no decryption is used and a null class such asCNullDecrypter 1611 (FIG. 16) may be present.

According to this preferred embodiment of the invention, any of avariety of encryption and decryption techniques, or optionally noencryption and decryption at all, may be employed. This embodiment usesvirtual function 1992 with a real decryption function 1994 that is partof a derived class of the class containing the virtual function. Thisallows a user the option to use a product with no encryption/decryptionor a default encryption/decryption technique, or to add specificencryption/decryption techniques by adding derived classes in place ofor in addition to CNullDecrypter 1611.

Finally, after any decryption has been completed, the process continuesto step 1912 which indicates the storage in database 947, and/oranalysis by workstation 945, of the decoded, decrypted information thathas been extracted from the email sent from the monitored devices.

It is understood that the steps shown in the flowchart of FIG. 19 may beperformed by elements other than those mentioned with reference to thesystem diagram shown in FIG. 9, and that the flowchart may be executedby any of various system architectures. Moreover, according to theparticular architecture chosen, some of the steps of FIG. 19 may beomitted, or the ordering of the steps may be chosen to be compatiblewith a particular approach.

As described with reference to FIG. 16, a preferred embodiment involvesobject-oriented programming techniques, including use of abstractclasses, derived classes and virtual functions. Specifically, a virtualfunction such as that in abstract class CAbsDecrypter 1609 may causeinvocation of an actual (real) decryption function of a derived classsuch as CNullDecrypter 1611.

As known to those skilled in the art, object-oriented-technology isbased on manipulation of software objects instantiated from softwareclasses. A software class is a user-defined type and is typicallydeclared with data items, and procedures or software methods thatoperate on the data items. Many high-level languages, including C++,support the declaration of classes. Software objects instantiated forsoftware classes are called instances of the software classes from whichthey are instantiated, and have all the features of the “type” of thesoftware class used for instantiation.

An abstract class is a software class that is not intended to beinstantiated. A purpose of an abstract class is to define interfacesshared by derived classes through inheritance. An abstract class isfrequently used with virtual functions or software methods that declarethe interfaces with or without definitions. When a software classderived from an abstract class defines an inherited virtual function ofthe abstract class, the virtual function of the derived software classwill be executed even when the instantiated object of the derivedsoftware class is accessed through a reference type of the base abstractclass. If the function referenced is not a virtual function, the baseclass function or software method will be executed. This techniqueallows the client or user of the software object to execute the correctfunction or software method with only the knowledge of the abstractclass. Many examples of such techniques are shown in Gamma, E., Helm,R., Johnson, R. and Vlissides, J., Design Patterns: Elements of ReusableSoftware, Addison-Wesley, Massachusetts, 1995, which is incorporatedherein by reference.

Object-Oriented Programming (“OOP”) is a programming methodology inwhich a program is viewed as a collection of discrete objects that areself-contained collections of data structures and routines that interactwith other objects. A class has data items, structures, and functions orsoftware methods. Data items correspond to variables and literals.Structures are named groupings of related data items and otherstructures. Software methods correspond to functions and subroutines. Anobject-oriented framework is a reusable basic design structure,including abstract and concrete classes, that assists in buildingapplications.

As generally understood, a declaration of a data item, variable,function, or software method is a declaration of the name of the dataitem, variable, function, or software method. A definition of the dataitem, variable, function, or software method is the defining content forthe data item, variable, function, or software method. For example, thedeclaration of a software method named “draw” includes the name andtypes of interfaces for the software method, but not the defining code.The definition of the software method named “draw” includes the name ofthe software method, any needed data type information, informationconcerning parameters to be passed, and the defining code for thesoftware method. In some programming languages, a definition is also adeclaration.

Three main features of object-oriented programming are inheritance,encapsulation, and polymorphism. Encapsulation and polymorphism are wellknown. Inheritance allows a programmer to establish a general softwareclass with features desirable for a wide range of software objects. Forexample, if a programmer designs a software class “shape” having certaingeneralized features such as a closed convex shape and a generalizedcomputable property called “draw,” it is then possible to constructsubclasses derived from the superclass “shape” such as subclasses“triangle,” “square” and “circles,” all having the shared properties ofthe parent class shape but with additional properties such as thelengths of sides or a radius value. It is also possible to have derivedsubclasses of classes that have additional properties such as a solidcircle and a dashed circle.

In this example, the class “shape” is considered a base class, in thatinstantiations of actual objects are performed in its subclasses. Theclass “shape” is also considered an abstract class, in that it makes nosense to instantiate a “shape” object since object properties are notfully defined for the class “shape”.

More generally, an abstract class is a class from which no objects areinstantiated, but for which an interface for subclasses is established.The class “shape” establishes certain properties inherent to all “shape”subclasses for inheritance purposes. For example, an operation named“draw” of a shape, a commonly requested operation among users of shapes,can be declared as a software method for the class shape, to beinherited in all subclasses of the class shape. A programmer creates newclasses derived from the class shape that inherit all desired featuresof the class shape without rewriting code already written for the classshape. This feature, called reusability, offers tremendous savings oftime and resources in system development, maintenance, and support.

In many high-level programming languages, a programmer declares aderived class by providing the name of the class being declared and thenames of base classes from which the derived class is to inheritproperties. In the “shape” example, the class “shape” is considered tobe at a top level of an inheritance hierarchy, and is abstract since itmakes no sense to instantiate shape objects with no definition of anactual shape such as a square or a circle. Subclasses declared a levelbelow the class shape are the subclasses specifically derived from theclass shape, such as triangles, squares and circles. The subclasses“triangle,” “square” and “circle” are then called children or subclassesof the class shape, and the class shape is called a parent or superclassof the classes “triangle,” “square” and “circle.”

Declarations of the subclasses specifically refer to the class “shape”for establishing inheritance. Subclasses a level below the class“circle” are the subclasses specifically derived from the class circle,such as “solid circle” and “dashed circle.” The classes “solid circle”and “dashed circle” are then called children or subclasses of the classcircle, and the class “circle” is called a parent or superclass of theclasses “solid circle” and “dashed circle.”

Declarations of these subclasses specifically refer to the parent class“circle” for establishing inheritance. Since the class “circle” isderived from the class “shape,” the derived classes “solid circle” and“dashed circle” inherit all features of the class “shape,” and alladditional features of the class “circle.”

In object-oriented programming, a pure virtual function is a function orsoftware method declared with no defining code in an abstract class. Forexample, in declaring the abstract class “shape” described previously, aprogrammer declares a pure virtual function named “draw,” with nodefining code, as a software method for the abstract class shape.Subclasses derived from the abstract class “shape” inherit the purevirtual function as a virtual function having the same name as the purevirtual function of the parent abstract class. The function name orsoftware method name has executable code defined at some level insubclasses of the parent abstract class.

Assume the abstract class “shape” has a declaration for the pure virtualfunction named “draw.” Using formulas from basic algebra and geometry,the actual code executed for drawing a shape differs from one shape toanother, so the code for the function named “draw” is defined only inderived base classes used for instantiation of software objects. In C++,a virtual function is declared to be a virtual function in all abstractsubclasses to be used as superclasses for derived subclasses from whichobjects are to be instantiated with defining code for the virtualfunction of the abstract classes.

For example, drawing a circle requires plotting points equidistant froma center point. Drawing a square generally requires plotting points toform four straight sides having equal length which are connected atright angles. Therefore, a request to draw a particular shape needs toaccommodate the different properties of various desired shapes. Using apure virtual function named “draw” in the abstract class “shape,” thecode for drawing a circle is included as a software method named “draw”for instantiated circle software objects, and the code for drawing asquare is included as a software method named “draw” for instantiatedsquare software objects. A reference to a software object instance ofthe software method named “draw” causes execution of the code to drawthe shape represented by the software object instance. For this example,the shape of a circle is drawn if the code for an instantiated circleobject is accessed, and a square is drawn if the code for aninstantiated square object is accessed.

In C++, the code for the desired software method named “draw” isaccessible by using a format including a reference to the desired circleor square instantiated software object and the name “draw.” Acomprehensive discussion of the pure virtual function property ofabstract classes in C++ is provided in Stroustrup, B., The Design andEvolution of C++, Addison-Wesley, Massachusetts, 1994, and in Meyers,S., Effective C++: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs andDesigns, Addison-Wesley, Massachusetts, 1992, which are incorporatedherein by reference.

Some object-oriented programming languages support multiple inheritance,in which a software class derived from plural existing parent softwareclasses inherits attributes and software methods from all parentsoftware classes included in the desired derivation. As discussed abovewith regard to inheritance, a child subclass is declared by supplyingthe name of the class to be declared, and the names of the desiredparent base classes for multiple inheritance. Additional properties forthe child subclass are then declared and/or defined.

A comprehensive discussion of OOP is provided in Coad, P. and Yourdon,E., Object-Oriented Analysis, Second Edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., NewJersey, 1991, and in Booch, G., Object-Oriented Analysis and Design withApplications, Second Edition, Addison Wesley Longman, California, 1994,which are incorporated herein by reference.

In the described embodiment, abstract class CAbsDecrypter provides theinterface function, decryptData( ), to perform the decryption process.The interface function is a pure virtual function so that the decryptionmethod is not defined in the abstract class. The abstract classCAbsDecrypter cannot be instantiated.

The derived class CNullDecrypter of the abstract class CAbsDecrypterprovides the method for performing the function decryptData( ).Accordingly, when decryptData( ) of CAbsDecrypter is called, it isactually decryptData( ) of CNullDecrypter that is being called. Thecaller of the decryptData( ) is not aware that it is using decryptData() of CNullDecrypter. CAbsDecrypter hides the details of the decryptionscheme.

Thus, new decryption scheme(s) can be used by adding new derivedclass(es) of CAbsDecrypter. The caller will be not be aware of whichencryption scheme is being used but will call the interface function ofCAbsDecrypter. In this manner, CAbsDecrypter may be used in accordancewith the principle of “subclassing for specification,” which isgenerally understood to involve a parent class specifying what must bedone, but the subclasses overriding the parent's member classspecifications and describing exactly how tasks are to be carried out.

In the described system, a derived class of CAbsDecrypter is created byCAttachmentExtractor. In a system that uses one derived class ofCAbsDecrypter, an object of the class CNullDecrypter is created. Theobject of the class CNullDecrypter is assigned to an object of the classCAbsDecrypter. Accordingly, whenever the object of the classCAbsDecrypter is used, it is actually the object of the classCNullDecrypter that is being used.

TABLE THREE shows an example of code for creating and using a derivedclass of CAbsDecrypter.

TABLE THREE Exemplary Code Implementing Creation and Use of DerivedClass CAbsDecrypter* loc_pDecrypter; //Declare a local pointer to anobject of the //abstract class CAbsDecrypter. loc_pDecrypter = newCNullDecrypter; //Create a CNullDecrypter object and //assign it to thepointer to an object of the //abstract class CAbsDecrypter.loc_pDecrypter → decryptData( ); //Using the decryption process.Changing the second step in TABLE THREE, by creating different derivedclasses of CAbsDecrypter, changes the decryption scheme.

Application of these principles of use of abstract classes, derivedclasses and virtual functions is further described with reference toFIGS. 20A and 20B.

FIG. 20A illustrates how the objects in FIG. 16 interact with each otherto retrieve a line from the MIME attachment of a message from the POP3server.

CPop3Processor 1701 calls getNextLineOfMessage( ) ofCAttachmentExtractor 1703 to obtain a line from the MIME attachment of amessage from the POP3 server. CAttachmentExtractor 1703 callsdecodeData( ) and getDecodedString( ) of CBase64Decoder 1707 to decode aline from the MIME attachment. CAttachmentExtractor 1703 callsdecryptData( ) to decrypt a line of decoded string.

FIG. 20B illustrates how the objects in FIG. 16 interact with each otherto retrieve the last line from the MIME attachment of a message from thePOP3 server. FIG. 20B includes the steps like those in FIG. 20A, butadds another call of getNextLineOfMessage( ) that returns a NO result toindicate there are no more lines in the message.

CPop3Processor 1701 calls getNextLineOfMessage( ) ofCAttachmentExtractor 1703 to obtain a line from the MIME attachment of amessage from the POP3 server. CAttachmentExtractor 1703 callsdecodeData( ) and getDecodedString( ) of CBase64Decoder 1707 to decode aline from the MIME attachment. CAttachmentExtractor 1703 callsdecryptData( ) to decrypt a line of decoded string.

CPop3Processor 1701 calls getNextLineOfMessage( ) again ofCAttachmentExtractor 1703 to obtain a line from the MIME attachment of amessage from the POP3 server. However, this call returns NO to indicatethere are no more lines in the message.

FIG. 21 illustrates how the objects in FIG. 16 interact with each otherto end a session with the POP3 server in retrieving messages.

CPop3Processor 1701 calls endRetrieve( ) of CAttachmentExtractor 1703 toend a session with the POP3 server. CAttachmentExtractor 1703 callssendQuitCommand( ) of CPop3 1705 to send the POP3 command QUIT. CPop31705 calls Send( ) and Receive( ) of CSocket 1713 to send the QUITcommand to the socket and to obtain a response from the socket for thecommand.

FIG. 22 illustrates how the objects in FIG. 16 interact with each otherto set the information needed in order to access the POP3 server.

CPop3Processor 1701 calls setupPOP3Server( ) of CAttachmentExtractor1703. CAttachmentExtractor 1703 calls setupPOP3Server( ) of CPop3 1705.CPop3 1705 calls setPOP3ServerName( ), setUserName( ), and setPassword() of CSystemRegistry 1715 to set information about access to the POP3server in the registry.

FIG. 23 illustrates an exemplary class diagram of ODBC (Open DataBaseConnectivity) Interface 1209 (FIG. 12). The ODBC Interface module 1209is responsible for providing the interface to the two tables in thedatabase that keeps the information of SNMP devices and their status.This design requires the database to be registered in ODBC. Therefore,the database must have ODBC supporting drivers.

ODBC Interface 1209 contains five classes: CReceiveODBCInterface 2301,CSystemDeviceInformation 2303, CSystemDeviceDatabase 2305,CSystemDeviceHistory 2307, and CSystemDeviceHistoryDatabase 2309:

-   -   CReceiveODBCInterface 2301 is the interface to ODBC Interface        1209 (FIG. 12) to store information in the database.    -   CSystemDeviceInformation 2303 is responsible for storing        configuration information of the monitored device in the        database.    -   CSystemDeviceDatabase 2305 is responsible for providing an        interface between CSystemDeviceInformation 2303 and the actual        database that contains the configuration information.    -   CSystemDeviceHistory 2307 is responsible for storing status        information of the monitored device in the database.    -   CSystemDeviceHistoryDatabase 2309 is responsible for providing        an interface between CSystemDeviceHistory 2307 and the actual        database that contains the status information.

Structures that are used by these classes include:

-   -   DeviceInfo 2311 is a structure used by CSystemDeviceInformation        2303 to store the configuration information.    -   DeviceStatus 2313 is a structure used by CSystemDeviceHistory        2307 to store the status information.    -   CRecordset 2315 is the class from which both        CSystemDeviceDatabase 2305 and CSystemDeviceHistoryDatabase 2309        are derived, that interfaces with the databases.

FIGS. 24 and 25 are collaboration diagrams showing how the objects inFIG. 23 interact with each other to store status and configurationinformation of the monitored devices into the database.

FIG. 24 illustrates how the objects in FIG. 23 interact with each otherto add the status information of the monitored devices to the database.

User 2401 refers to the Receiver Manager 1203 (FIG. 12). After ReceiverManager 1203 obtains the status information from the email message(stored in the DeviceStatus structure 2313), Receiver Manager 1203 callsthe setStatusData( ) function of CReceiveODBCInterface 2301 (FIG. 23),passing the DeviceStatus structure 2313 into this setStatusData( )function. CReceiveODBCInterface 2301 calls the addStatusData( ) functionof CSystemDeviceHistory 2307, passing the DeviceStatus structure 2313into this addStatusData( ) function. In the addStatusData( ) function ofCSystemDeviceHistory 2307, the status information stored in theDeviceStatus structure 2313 is copied into a new record entry of thedatabase. Thus, a new record is added to the database, containing theinformation copied from the DeviceStatus structure 2313.

FIG. 25 illustrates how the objects in FIG. 23 interact with each otherto set the configuration information of the monitored devices to thedatabase.

User 2401 refers to the Receiver Manager 1203 (FIG. 12). After ReceiverManager 1203 obtains the configuration information from the emailmessage (stored in the DeviceInfo structure 2311), Receiver Manager 2301calls the setDeviceInformation( ) function of CReceiveODBCInterface 2301(FIG. 23), passing the DeviceInfo structure 2311 into thissetDeviceInformation( ) function. CReceiveODBCInterface 2301 calls theupdateDeviceInformation( ) function of CSystemDeviceInformation, passingthe DeviceInfo structure 2311 into this updateDeviceInformation( )function.

The updateDeviceInformation( ) function of CSystemDeviceInformation2303, searches the database to see if the monitored device alreadyexists in the database. This search may be accomplished, for example, bychecking if the MAC Address in the DeviceInfo structure 2311 exists inthe database. If the MAC address already exists in the database, thenthe information stored in the DeviceInfo structure 2311 is copied intothe record entry of the database for the MAC Address, overwriting anyexisting configuration information for the monitored device. If the MACaddress does not already exist in the database, the configurationinformation stored in the DeviceInfo structure 2311 is copied into a newrecord entry of the database, and thus a new record is added to thedatabase containing the information copied from the DeviceInfo structure2311.

TABLE FOUR describes the contents of an exemplary structure used tostore configuration information concerning a monitored device.

TABLE FOUR DeviceInfo Specification: Data Structure StoringConfiguration Information Type Name Description std::stringm_sManufacturer Manufacturer of the network printer. std::stringm_sModel Model of the network printer. std::string m_sSerialNumberNetwork printer's serial number (if not available, string is empty).std::string m_sMACAddress Network printer's MAC address (obtained fromnetwork printer through SNMP) std::string m_sIPAddress IP address of thenetwork printer. std::string m_sCompanyName Name of company owning thenetwork printer. std::string m_sStreet Street address of the company.std::string m_sCity City where the company is located. std::stringm_sState State where the company is located. std::string m_sZipCode ZIPcode of the company. std::string m_sLocation Location within company ofnetwork printer. std::string m_sContactPerson Name of contact person fornetwork printer. std::string m_sPhoneNumber Phone number of the contactperson. std::string m_sEMailAddress E-mail address of the contactperson.Information in the email messages containing the configurationinformation are extracted and placed into this data structure. This datastructure is passed into CReceiveODBCInterface 2301 through the functionsetDeviceInformation( ) and into CSystemDeviceInformation 2303 throughthe function updateDeviceInformation( ) as shown in FIG. 24.CSystemDeviceInformation 2303 extracts the information from the datastructure and stores it in the database.

FIGS. 26A and 26B are flowcharts illustrating the above-describedprocesses of getting status and configuration information, respectively,from the email message and storing the information in the database.

FIG. 26A shows the steps of getting the status information from theemail message (step 2602), storing the status information into theDeviceStatus structure (step 2604), and then adding the statusinformation to the database (step 2606).

FIG. 26B shows the steps of getting the configuration information fromthe email message (step 2612), storing the configuration informationinto the DeviceInfo structure (step 2614), and then updating a record inthe database (step 2618) or adding a record to the database (step 2620)for the configuration information, depending on a decision (step 2616)whether or not the monitored device is already in the database.

TABLE FIVE describes the contents of the structure used to store thestatus information concerning the monitored device.

TABLE FIVE DeviceStatus Specification: Data Structure Storing StatusInformation Type Name Description CTime m_Time Time sent from themonitored site std::string m_sMACAddress MAC address of the devicestd::string m_sIPAddress IP address of the device unsigned intm_nSysUpTime Time (to 0.01 second) since network management portion wasre-initialized. unsigned int m_nHrDeviceErrors Number of errors detectedon this device. int m_nPrinterStatus Printer's status: other(1),unknown(2), idle(3), printing(4), warmup(5). unsigned char m_nLowPaperLow paper error detected unsigned char m_nNoPaper No paper errordetected unsigned char m_nLowToner Low Toner error detected unsignedchar m_nNoToner No Toner error detected unsigned char m_nDoorOpen DoorOpen error detected unsigned char m_nJammed Jammed error detectedunsigned char m_nOffline Offline error status detected unsigned charm_nServiceRequested Service Request error detected unsigned intm_nPrtGeneralConfig Counts configuration changes that change Changes thecapabilities of a printer. unsigned int m_nPrtLifeCount Number of unitsof measure (specified by CounterUnit) counted during life of printer.int m_nPrtMarkerSupplies Toner 1 level Level1 int m_nPrtMarkerSuppliesToner 2 level Level2 int m_nPrtMarkerSupplies Toner 3 level Level3 intm_nPrtMarkerSupplies Toner 4 level Level4Information in the email messages containing the status information areextracted and placed into this data structure. This data structure ispassed into CReceiveODBCInterface 2301 through the functionsetStatusData( ) and into CSystemDeviceHistory 2307 through the functionaddStatusData( ) as shown in FIG. 24. CSystemDeviceHistory 2307 extractsthe information from the data structure and stores it in the database.

To summarize TABLES ONE, TWO, FOUR and FIVE, the data structureDeviceInfo exemplified in TABLE FOUR contains the configurationinformation. An example of the format of an email message containing theconfiguration information is shown in TABLE ONE. TABLE ONE includeslines of text for the email message, but does not represent a datastructure itself. The exemplary format does not show all theconfiguration information corresponding to the data structureDeviceInfo, and does not require that all the configuration information,except the MACAddress, be included in the email message. As the Parserreceives each line of the email message for the configurationinformation, it determines the type of configuration information andthen determines the value of the type. The value is then stored in thedata structure DeviceInfo (see FIG. 23).

Analogously, the data structure DeviceStatus exemplified in TABLE FIVEcontains the status information. An example of the format of an emailmessage containing the status information is shown in TABLE TWO. TABLETWO includes lines of text for the email message, but does not representa data structure itself. The exemplary format does not show all thestatus information corresponding to the data structure DeviceStatus, anddoes not require that all the status information, except the MACAddress,be included in the email message. As the Parser receives each line ofthe email message for the status information, it determines the type ofstatus information and then determines the value of the type. The valueis then stored in the data structure DeviceStatus (see FIG. 23).

Modifications and variations of the above-described embodiments of thepresent invention are possible, as appreciated by those skilled in theart in light of the above teachings. For example, the disclosed classesand subclasses, and the derivation relationships among the classes, andeven the object-oriented approach that underlies the foregoingpresentation, are provided by way of example and should not limit thescope of the invention. It is therefore to be understood that, withinthe scope of the appended claims and their equivalents, the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

1. A method of receiving, at a monitoring device over a network,information concerning a remotely monitored device, the informationbeing contained in a message that also includes a message typedesignation, the method comprising: parsing, by the monitoring device,an input line from the message to extract the message type designation;determining a data structure type based on the message type designation;creating a data object of the determined data structure type in a memoryaccessible by the monitoring device, wherein fields in the created dataobject are different depending on the message type designation; parsinga line from the message subsequent to the input line to extract a datatype and a data value; storing the extracted data value in the dataobject of the determined data structure type at a location in the memorycorresponding to the extracted data type; and repeating the secondparsing step and the storing step for all lines in the messagesubsequent to the input line, which contains the message typedesignation.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: the information isincluded in an attachment to an email; and each parsing step includesinvoking a function within an object-oriented parser class that obtainsstring data from an object-oriented email processor class that hasextracted the string data from the email attachment.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the step of parsing the input line comprises: parsingthe input line from the message to extract the message type designation,the message type designation representing one of configurationinformation, device information, and status information of the remotelymonitored device.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the message istransmitted over the Internet using an Internet email protocol.
 5. Asystem for receiving, at a monitoring device over a network, informationconcerning a remotely monitored device, the information being containedin a message that also includes a message type designation, the systemcomprising: first means for parsing an input line from the message toextract the message type designation; means for determining a datastructure type based on the message type designation; means for creatinga data object of the determined data structure type in a memory, whereinfields in the created data object are different depending on the messagetype designation; second means for parsing a line from the messagesubsequent to the input line to extract a data type and a data value;and means for storing the extracted data value in the data object of thedetermined data structure type at a location in the memory correspondingto the extracted data type; and means for causing the repeated executionof the second means for parsing and the means for storing for all linessubsequent to the input line, which contains the message typedesignation.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein: the information isincluded in an attachment to an email; and each of the parsing meansincludes means for invoking a function within an object-oriented parserclass that obtains string data from an object-oriented email processorclass that has extracted the string data from the email attachment. 7.In a monitoring device for remotely monitoring a device over a network,wherein the monitoring device includes a receiver manager class and adata retriever, the data retriever including a data retriever class, anemail processor, and a parser, a method of receiving informationconcerning the remotely monitored device, the information beingcontained in a message that also includes a message type designation,the method comprising: the data retriever class invoking a function inthe email processor to read an input line and to read a second linesubsequent to the input line from the message; the data retriever classinvoking a function in the parser to parse the input line of the messageto extract the message type designation; the data retriever classreturning the extracted message type designation to the receiver managerclass; the receiver manager class determining a data structure typebased on the extracted message type designation and passing the datastructure type to the data retriever class; and the data retriever classinvoking a function in the parser to extract a data type and a datavalue from the second line and to store the extracted data value in adata object of the determined data structure type at a location in amemory corresponding to the extracted data type, wherein fields in thedata object are different depending on the message type designation, thedata retriever classing invoking a function in the parser to extract thedata type and the data value from all lines subsequent to the inputline, which contains the message type designation, and to store theextracted data values in the data object.
 8. The system of claim 7,wherein the message is included in an email message received by a PostOffice Protocol 3 (POP3) server and the email processor includesfunctions to interface to the POP3 server.
 9. The system of claim 8,wherein the message is included in an attachment to the email.
 10. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the attachment is a Multipurpose InternetMail Extensions (MIME) attachment.
 11. A software module embedded on acomputer-readable medium, the software module configured to be executedon a computer that receives over a network information concerning aremotely monitored device, the information being contained in a messagethat also includes a message type designation, the software modulecomprising: a receiver manager class, and a data retriever, the dataretriever including a data retriever class, an email processor, and aparser, wherein: the data retriever class is configured to invoke afunction in the email processor to read an input line and to read asecond line subsequent to the input line from the message; the dataretriever class is configured to invoke a function in the parser toparse the input line of the message to extract the message typedesignation; the data retriever class is configured to return theextracted message type designation type to receiver manager class; thereceiver manager class is configured to determine a data structure typebased on the extracted message type designation and to pass the datastructure type to the data retriever class; and the data retriever classis configured to invoke a function in the parser to extract a data typeand a data value from the second line and to store the extracted datavalue in a data object of the determined data structure type at alocation in a memory corresponding to the extracted data type, whereinfields in the data object are different depending on the message typedesignation, the data retriever classing invoking a function in theparser to extract the data type and the data value from all linessubsequent to the input line, which contains the message typedesignation, and to store the extracted data values in the data object.12. The software module of claim 11, wherein the message is included inan email message received by a POP3 server, and the email processorclass includes functions to interface to the POP3 server.
 13. Thesoftware module of claim 12, wherein the message is included in anattachment to the email.
 14. The software module of claim 13, whereinthe attachment is a MIME attachment.